Mai Taha - Anticolonial Radios: The Sonic Lives of Internationalism

This lecture will be hosted on Thursday, 17 September 2026 at 6:00 pm.

(Based on a book forthcoming with Cambridge University Press, co-authored by Mai Taha and Sara Salem)

How does sound chart a different story of anticolonialism? Sound could perhaps draw out another map of space in history. Mirroring the form of sound waves, this audio-visual talk travels across borders, following the way sound waves themselves move.

The sonic path of anticolonial history draws out new maps of solidarities that transcend the nation-station and partake in the politics of internationalism. This is partly what makes sound so important, and what made the radio so central to anticolonial movements: sound waves built new relations of solidarity because they could not be confined within colonial borders.

From official state radio stations such as Voice of the Arabs in Egypt to pirate radio stations run by rebel movements, such as the Voice of Palestine, Radio Freedom in South Africa, the PAIGC radio in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, and Voice of the Free and Fighting Algeria, the sounds of anticolonialism were often broadcasted through radio waves. Many of these stations imagined a vast audience reaching struggles across Africa, the Middle East and the wider Third World.

In this talk, Mai Taha draws out the rich landscape of radio broadcasting to explore its deployment by various movements, and its material and technological versatility that made it such an important medium in anti-colonial struggles.

About the Speaker

Mai Taha is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She has written on law, colonialism, labour, class and gender relations, and social reproduction in the Middle East. Using film, literature, oral history and sound archives, Mai’s research explores the different scales of anticolonial revolution that draw out historical tensions arising in liberation struggles and struggles over social reproduction. Along with Sara Salem, she has a forthcoming book with Cambridge University Press titled, Anticolonial Radios: The Sonic Lives of Internationalism on the radio during the decades of decolonization across Africa and the Middle East.

Attention!

The lecture starts at 6 pm. The number of seats is limited and we work on a first-come, first-served basis. We open our doors at 5:30 and close them at 6:15 or earlier in case the lecture room reaches its full capacity.